The average American family eats dinner between 6 and 7 p.m. Meanwhile, countries on the opposite side of the world, such as Italy, choose to eat between 8 and 10 p.m. This staggering difference in dinner times is partly due to cultural differences, but it can also be attributed to choices made to optimize health. 

Chrononutrition is an evolving study of how eating patterns affect health and human functions, including metabolism and circadian rhythms. For centuries, people have studied how the amount of food a person intakes affects their physiology; however, in 1986, Jean-Robert Rapin and Alain Delabos developed chrononutrition to shift the focus of nutrition from how much people eat to when people eat. Both Rapin and Delabos used their knowledge of nutrition to guide them in their studies of how the circadian rhythm is impacted when meal times change (SOSCuisine.com).

More recently, researchers have built upon the original studies of Rapin and Delabos. Marta Garaulet recently studied how meal timing could affect obesity and metabolism. As a professor of physiology and nutrition at the University of Murcia in Spain, Garaulet researched the effects of her native country’s eating patterns. In Spain, most people typically only eat one main meal in the afternoon and consume a lighter meal during dinnertime. This is primarily due to Spain’s national policy of a midday siesta period, which is a short nap after lunchtime. Siestas allow for increased productivity since they provide people with a break in the day to prepare to work longer into the evening. As a result of this siesta period, Spanish people eat light and late dinners. Through her studies, Garaulet found that eating a larger lunch and a lighter dinner can lead to fewer metabolic problems (The Washington Post).

Similarly, studies have shown that maintaining a consistent breakfast schedule can provide numerous health benefits. Although most people agree that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, MDLinx states that a quarter of the American population regularly skips breakfast. Piper Guyton (12) shares that sometimes she has “to skip breakfast because [she is] in a rush to get to school, which leaves [her] hungrier later in the day.” A study published in Obesity Review analyzed how eating a larger breakfast could affect health. In a study involving 485 adults, researchers found that the individuals who consumed more food earlier in the day had greater weight loss, improvements in blood sugar, and decreased risk of diabetes. Thus, people should avoid regularly skipping breakfast to avoid health consequences.  

Though many people fail to realize it, chrononutrition has a significant impact on human health. The choices people make on when to eat could either hurt or harm their health, making it beneficial to evaluate the consequences of your eating habits.